EQUILIBRI BINARI by Sara Armento is one of selected project of Roberto Capucci Competition is exposed at Palazzo Morando in Milan from 9 to 20 April.

This project destrctures FASCIA dress -designed by Roberto Capucci- in its two components, spindle and ribbon. The first one envelopes the shapes of female body but without the ribbon it wouldn’t have any value. The second element defines and structures the space of hips only when it finds a support on the sheath dress. Equally the horizontal surface needs two supports, processed as scupltural elements indepents and complement one another, to perform its being table.

LaDesigneria is an atipical space in the historical centre of Pescara, Italy, an hybrid between a showrrom and a bar. The project involved the entire structural renovation of this space and the design was based on the idea to create a container for objects, people and activities; that’s why fixed elements are neutral and as simple as possible, but at the same time not anonymous. The main characteristic of this bar is that the majority of its furniture is composed by pieces made by different emerging designers that are periodically replaced: the aim is to near people to product design and to the creative process through the use of the objects so you can appreciate both their aesthetic and functionality. Every element into LaDesigneria has a label with information about the author so if you are interested in that chair or table you can contact him directly. Zero-mile food and drink are another important part of the project’s philosophy based on glocalization and ecological sustainability, as also the vintage collection of plates, glasses and flatware, all bought at street markets and second-hand dealers and for this reason all different and uniques. LaDesigneria’s logo summarizes the concept behind it: a big question mark symbol of curiosity, nonstop questions and open-mind.

The CARBON FIBER DESIGN CONTEST aims to raise awareness among architects, designers and engineers towards the use of carbon fibers in new areas of application compared to traditional ones, by exploiting and enhancing the technical features of the material: mechanical strength, weight and moldability. The competition is open to the field of product design (internal and external) and aims to stimulate the research of new forms considered as the typical expression of this material on the one hand and on the other to promote the search for innovation in the use of carbon fiber thanks to its peculiarities.
The contest is sponsored by Olympus-FRP, specialized in composite materials, carbon fibers and new technologies for engineering and architecture, together with NCD Architects and we of deZign Studio and with the support of the ADI – Association for Industrial Design, University of Naples “Federico II” and Confartigianato, as an opportunity to carry out researches on the material and to identify some innovative uses.

The map of the creative community of a city, but much more too. Creativos.in is a project conceived by Colaborativa, a studio from Cordoba, Spain, made by Javier Buron Garcia, Magda Sanchez and Curro Crespo, dealing with development of strategies and tools for urban transformation through the fusion of architecture, urbanism and information technology. Their work, very innovative, goes from strategic planning to urban management, from geoposition applications to data visualization, from the organization of cultural events to others kind of inititiatives, all them united by the purpose of promoting the vision of an open, inclusive and sustainable city. As it’s easy to understand by their name, what characterizes them is a not hierarchical perspective of design, based on network concept. Inevitably creativosencordoba.com came out from their brilliant minds. I don’t remember how I found this website, but I was struck with it and I started to think about how was structured the creative community in Pescara, if there were more photographers than architects, who were them and in what quantities. Curiosty was too much and a few weeks later and several mails, thanks to Colaborativa willingness and skills, finally the map of creative peopole in Pescara is taking shape too. And this project is spreading to others cities.

I think thati in a moment of crisis like the one we are living now to know how the cultural environment of a city is organized can be really helpful. A simple treemap allows to immediatly visualize the dimensions of different fields and to identify, consequently, in every area, possible opportunities and weaknesses; in particular it allows u sto establish collaborations, contacts and interdisciplinary relationships, essentials for our job. Moreover the declinations adopted by those who belong to a certain category give an idea of a cultural system complexity and can encourage a constructive competition which adds quality and create a virtuous circle good for everyone. By now old corporatisms are completely inadeguates, they are outdated by global dimensions and above all they appear to me obsolete for a flexible and constantly changing reality. The idea of network, typical of web 2.0, is a fact and if it’s taking roots as mental category is because it’s a going model offering lots of opportunities. At last my personal view is creativos.in project fits very good to medium-sized cities, where quantities are such that they need a synthetic visualization, but at the same time they are not excessive to blur the single parts of the system. I don’t know where this project can lead but I have a little confidence: without creativos.in Cordoba and Pescara would be more poors.

KATA is the space-event by Michele Fanfulli in which hand-crafted factories, young designers, design schools, will work side by side in order to design products capable to carry a message of creative synergy based on a social and environmental sustainability. Crafts, art and design will merge during the workshop days thinking about innovative projects that cares about the traditions of a territory.